by the campfire
by raffinit
Summary: it's too nice of a night for them to be indoors. Joel drags Tess and Ellie outdoors. Prompt: humid, guitar, country music


**Tess is alive and with them and you're gonna deal**

**Meanwhile Joel's trying to get these lazy butts off the couch and outside to sit around the campfire like a real country boy.**

**The song Joel plays is called _A Country Boy Can Survive _by_ Hank Williams Jr_. You can't get any more country than that.**

* * *

It's a summer night out. The sky is clear and the air is cool enough for a campfire out in the backyard, and Joel doesn't let them waste such a beautiful night by sitting around in the living room playing cards.

"It ain't good for you to be sittin' around inside all day," Joel chides them, when Tess and Ellie make half-hearted complaints, lounging on top of one another on the couch.

"It's too warm to do anything," Ellie whines, dropping her head onto Tess' stomach. "It's sticky and gross."

The man raises an eyebrow at the girl, huffing incredulously. "Ellie, it's the middle of the night. You don't get sticky at night," he tells her, and Tess' mouth quivers as she tilts her head up to peer at him.

"Sure you can," she intones lowly, smirking coyly when Joel seems to choke on air. "You can get really sticky at night if you're not careful." She smiles innocently when Ellie gives her a weird look. "Y'know, 'cause it's so humid out."

"Oh yeah." Ellie wriggles around contentedly on Tess' lap, sighing happily as the woman begins to run her fingers along the girl's scalp. It's a habit Tess has; she does it to Joel sometimes too, when they're lying around with sweat cooling on their skin and the sheets tangled around their legs. Ellie makes a sound close to a purr, and even Tess can't help but hum in a languid smile.

Joel rolls his eyes at them, even as his brain is telling him to leave them be with their bonding time. It's not like Ellie to not want to be outside, so he figures the girl is genuinely bothered by the weather. The woman she's lying on just seems more content fighting him for fun more than anything else.

"C'mon now." He grasps their hands in his own, shaking his head when they begin to whine simultaneously at being unraveled from their position on the couch, but reluctantly allow the man to pull them to their feet. "It's a beautiful night out; nice and cool."

Grumbling under their breaths, Tess and Ellie head outside, and refuse to admit defeat when Joel eyes them smugly when the cool air welcomes them into the open.

"I still think it's too sticky," Ellie murmurs petulantly, and the man rolls his eyes skywards before scavenging out the firewood.

So Joel gets the campfire going nice and warm; Tess sits by with Ellie on a log they've dragged together and sits with her feet tucked under a blanket because her toes are always cold. Bear settles by her feet, watching curiously as the big Alpha of the pack crouches down by the pile of woods and makes sparks with his hand.

"How are you using that?" Ellie exclaims, prodding the blanket even as she settles down into Tess' side and waits for more scalp massages from the woman.

Tess shrugs; already weaving trails through Ellie's hair. "My feet are cold."

Joel raises an eyebrow at this, smirking when Tess rolls her eyes at him. "I thought it was too sticky," he drawls, and loves the way she scowls at him.

"Shut up and make fire, caveman."

It's not exactly chilly out, just breezy and cool enough to forget the dry summer heat in the day. With the fire crackling and the stars above them, they settle in for a lazy night and an impromptu astronomy lesson from the grizzled man.

That is, until Joel produces a guitar.

Ellie's eyes glint in the firelight, she claps her hands excitedly when Joel laughingly waves her over. "Alright, now you gotta hold it like this." He guides the girl's smaller hands to the instrument, placing one hand onto the fretboard and spreading her fingers out over the necessary frets before bringing her other hand over the strings. "These here are frets. Now, dependin' on how you place your fingers, it plays out a different key. Like this." He plays a series of notes, the basic five, and praises Ellie heartily when she mimics him effortlessly.

Ellie makes an exaggerated bow when Tess claps her hands mock-derisively, until Joel waves her away. "Alright, now you gotta press down on the frets here like this - harder now - right, and then you strum on 'em."

The girl strums - and it comes out like a mangled wail of a tone-deaf cat.

Bear whines at the sound, and Tess bursts out laughing before she can help herself, and Ellie's blushing from her neck up to her cheeks as even Joel can't keep in a chortle or two. "Aw, shut up, Tess." She strums again defiantly, releasing another loud off-tune twang of the strings, glaring at the woman until Joel's large and warm hand envelopes her fingers, and he's pressing down for her.

"There we go," he soothes her, with his voice just as warm and low as the tune that magically comes from the strings she's holding down. With his hand he guides her to switching frets into different keys, naming them off for her as he goes. Eventually he's moving her fingers into the tune of a song, and Ellie watches his face, fascinated with the wistful look he hides behind his beard as he plays what she can only think to be a song from his childhood.

There's an unfortunate twang that breaks the rhythm, and Tess finds herself disappointed when Joel chuckles and pulls the guitar away from his hands. "Alright now, try it yourself."

Ellie shakes her head stubbornly, pressing the guitar back into his hand. "You play," she says, smiling at the man disparagingly. "You play it better."

The man's eyes crinkle; warm and affectionate as he ruffles her hair and pulls her into his side briefly. "That's 'cause you ain't practiced enough, is all," he tells her, but Ellie wriggles out of his side and settles back down into Tess', both of them eyeing him expectantly.

"Sing us a tune, Tex," Tess requests, and Ellie all but jumps onto the boat head first.

"YEAH, DO IT! Play something for us, Joel!" The prospect of having Joel sing makes her forget completely about her own failed skills at playing, and Ellie bounces eagerly at Tess' side as the man waves away their cajoling. Between Ellie's begging and Tess' well-natured wheedling, the man heaves a dramatic sigh, palming the instrument.

"Please, Joel." Tess' quiet voice surprises him - she's not one for polite niceties, but she's asking him gently; eyeing him kindly, not anything like the everyday leader and dominant woman he knows. "Sing us something."

She loves the sound of his voice; the low and warm timbre that has a little bit of a rough edge to it - like whiskey. There were times back in Boston, when he'd thought she was still asleep or when he'd be trimming his beard in the bathroom, she'd hear him hum or sing to himself, and if she asked when he was drunk enough - he'd sing for her too.

He can feel his resolve crumbling already. "Awh, hell, why not." He gives the strings a test run, tweaking the nuts into the tunes he needs, and Ellie and Tess wait eagerly as a melody begins to come through.

_"The preacher man says it's the end of time_

_And the Mississippi River she's a goin' dry_

_The interest is up and the Stock Markets down_

_And you only get mugged_

_If you go down town_

_I live back in the woods, you see_

_A woman and the kids, and the dogs and me_

_I got a shotgun rifle and a 4-wheel drive_

_And a country boy can survive_

_Country folks can survive."_


End file.
